(Archived Article) Portugal Gives Itself a Clean-Energy Makeover

The contents of this post were gleaned from a New York Times article with the above title.  The original article was published August 9, 2010.

Five years ago, the leaders of Portugal decided to harness the country’s wind, hydropower, sunlight, and ocean waves.

Nearly 45% of the electricity in Portugal’s grid will come from renewable sources this year, up from 17% just five years ago.

Land-based wind power has expanded sevenfold in that time.  And Portugal expects in 2011 to become the first country to inaugurate a national network of charging stations for electric cars.

Portugal has little fossil fuel of its own.

Portugal participates in the European Union’s version of cap and trade.

Portuguese households have long paid about twice what Americans pay for electricity.

To force Portugal’s energy transition, the prime minister’s government restructured and privatized former state energy utilities to create a grid better suited to renewable power sources.  To lure private companies into Portugal’s new market, the government gave them contracts locking in a stable price for 15 years.

Portugal has large untapped resources of wind and river power, the two most cost-effective renewable sources.

While the government estimates that the total investment in revamping Portugal’s energy structure will be about 16.3 billion euros, that cost is borne by the private companies that operate the grid and the renewable plants and is reflected in consumers’ electricity rates.  The companies’ payback comes from the 15 years of guaranteed wholesale electricity rates promised by the government.  Once the new infrastructure is completed, it is expected that the system will cost about 1.7 billion euros a year less to run than if formerly did, primarily by avoiding natural gas imports.

To ensure a stable power base when the forces of nature shut down, the system needs to maintain a base of fossil fuel that can be fired up at will.

Portugal began upgrading its grid of transmission lines a decade ago.  Accommodating a greater share of renewable power cost an additional 480 million euros, an expense folded into electricity rates.

Environmental and conservation groups are concerned about the effects of so many new wind turbines and dams on wildlife and habitat.

Renewable energy has not created many green jobs.